Stimulus money for a mob museum?

Las Vegas is looking for a chunk of the next economic stimulus package to pay for a proposed $50 million mob museum: The Las Vegas Museum of Organized Crime and Law Enforcement.

As comedian Lewis Black said on The Daily Show lat night, isn't Las Vegas itself a mob museum? And doesn't Las Vegas take in enough money that it can jolly well build its own shrine to organized crime?

Apparently not. Las Vegas Mayor Oscar B. Goodman complains that the museum is "absolutely falling within the four corners of what President-elect Obama is trying to achieve."

My take: If Las Vegas wants a museum dedicated to the history of organized crime -- and believes that it will be a tourist magnet -- then it should have no problem raising the money itself. Why the heck should taxpayers in Massachusetts have to donate money to build a tourist attraction in Las Vegas? It's ridiculous.

The point is moot according to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who has said that the stimulus package will not include any earmarks.